Saturday, January 30th, 2010

CONTEST – Laura Marling @ Lee’s Palace – February 9, 2010

Frank YangI did a double-take when English folkie Laura Marling’s upcoming show in Toronto was announced back in December because a) besides being due for a new album, there had been no official news about a release, so I certainly wasn’t expecting any North American touring so soon, and b) the venue announced – the Drake Underground – seemed awfully small. Granted, Marling isn’t an act of the stature of, say, Duffy or Adele, but she is a highly-regarded artist and Mercury Prize finalist who’d almost filled the not-much-smaller Rivoli on her first visit to town back in October 2008. Best I could figure was that they were deliberately doing smaller rooms as part of a pre-release junket to build interest in the new record, and this stop would sell out right fast.

The first part seems to have been on the money – Marling’s North American tour comes a couple months before the April 6 release of her sophomore record I Speak Because I Can and comprises just eight dates on both coasts, mostly in cozier rooms. I was also right about the selling out, as ducats for the show went pretty quickly and as such, it’s been moved to the decidedly larger Lee’s Palace – not as intimate a setting as The Drake, perhaps, but one that should be able to accommodate all her Toronto-based fans.

And if you’re one of those fans, you’re in luck. Tickets for the show are $13.50 in advance but courtesy of Collective Concerts, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away to the show – to enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I enter the Laura Marling contest because I can” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest will close at midnight, February 3.